Tesla delivery miss will likely escalate concerns, says Citi

Tesla’s Q4 deliveries of 405,00 missed expectations of 418,000, Citi analyst Itay Michaeli tells investors in a research note. Although the "soft Q4 outcome isn’t entirely shocking" given recent China COVID developments, the delivery miss will likely escalate concerns over near-term macro and competitive demand pressures at a time when Tesla is adding significant capacity on existing products, says the analyst. He believes an argument can be made that much of the bad news is already priced into Tesla shares. However, until gross margin visibility improves, the stock "might struggle to regain meaningful ground," and it doesn’t help that Inflation Reduction Act guidelines appear to limit the $80,000 price cap to just the three-row Model Y variants, adds Michaeli. The analyst keeps a Neutral rating on Tesla with a $176 price target.